Sabine Devieilhe – Mirages (2017) [Qobuz FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

This project originated, Sabine Devieilhe says, from her desire to tackle Lakmé. In fact, Delibes was able to compose for her heroine some of the most memorable pages for coloratura soprano, starting with the hugely famous “air des clochettes” [Bell Song]. And as Western ears at the time were eager for musical and poetic voyages, and sensations from far-off lands, we find these same Oriental fantasies with Maurice Delage, who himself went on a grand tour of India, where he found modal colours, but also in Madame Chrysanthème by Messager or Rossignol by Stravinsky, to say nothing of the Egypt of Thaïs as portrayed by Anatole France and Massenet. Sabine Devieilhe, who won the “Lyrical revelation” prize at Victoires de la musique classique in 2013 before winning “Lyrical artist of the year” at the same ceremony – certainly not an unfair judgement of this particular artist – started her recording career with recordings of Rameau, Bach and Mozart, before launching into the lyrical repertoire from more recent years… And with great success!

Tracklist:
André Messager (1853 – 1929)
1 Madame Chrysanthème, Act 3: “Le jour sous le soleil béni” (Madame Chrysanthème) 04:09
Claude Debussy (1862 – 1918)
2 Pelléas et Mélisande, L. 88, Act 3: “Mes longs cheveux descendent” (Mélisande) 02:01
Léo Delibes (1836 – 1891)
3 Lakmé, Act 2: “Où va la jeune hindoue” (Lakmé) 07:25
Maurice Delage (1879 – 1961)
4 4 poèmes hindous: I. Madras 02:24
5 4 poèmes hindous: II. Lahore 03:45
6 4 poèmes hindous: III. Bénarès 01:33
7 4 poèmes hindous: IV. Jeypur 01:31
Claude Debussy
8 La Romance d’Ariel, L. 54 04:21
Léo Delibes
9 Lakmé, Act 1: “Viens, Mallika” (Lakmé, Mallika) 05:40
Igor Stravinsky (1882 – 1971)
10 Le Rossignol, Act 2: “Ah, joie, emplis mon coeur” (Le Rossignol) 03:32
Ambroise Thomas (1811 – 1896)
11 Hamlet, Act 4: “À vos jeux, mes amis” (Ophélie) 11:49
Hector Berlioz (1803 – 1869)
12 La mort d’Ophélie, H. 92 05:38
Jules Massenet (1842 – 1912)
13 Thaïs, Act 2: “Celle qui vient est plus belle” (La charmeuse, Crobyle, Myrtale) 04:18
Charles Koechlin (1867 – 1950)
14 Shéhérazade, Op. 84, Book 2: II. Le voyage 02:58
Léo Delibes
15 Lakmé, Act 3: “Tu m’as donné le plus doux rêve” (Lakmé) 02:21